The right food for your kitten

Congratulations on being a kitten owner! This is a special time for both of you, filled with opportunities to start your kitten's life with her

Your kitten may be small and cuddly now, but before you know it, your grown-up cat will be pouncing around. To ensure your kitten will be a happy, healthy cat for years to come, it's important to recognize her kitten-specific needs now.

All kittens need the basics - precise nutrition, time to sleep and play, and lots of love - but kittens have individual needs, as well. Cat owners tend to think of these early years as the "healthy years" and may not give enough consideration to feeding practices. But because of features like size, breed, age, environment, exercise, heredity and others, a "one size fits all" approach to nutrition just won't work. Improper feeding can increase your kitten's risk of obesity, poor muscle and bone development, and poor immune response.

Your kitten needs precise levels of essential nutrients to stay her healthiest throughout life. Her body needs a kitten food to provide taurine and other nutrients she needs for proper growth and development.

Starting your kitten off with proper nutrition is a vital step in ensuring she'll grow into an active, healthy cat. Feeding her a properly formulated kitten food, such as Hill's® Science Diet® Kitten pet food, helps fuel her growth and energy from day one.